Unlike last year Nexus 5X v 6P where there is a significant difference between the specification (eg. Snapdragon 808 v Snapdragon 810). The Pixel line has similar specification so you are able to get the same amount of power regardless of which model you chose. An interesting thing to note is that both Pixel & Pixel XL are smaller than previously Nexus 5X & Nexus 6P in term of screen size, which should be more suitable for one hand usage.

The Pixel comes in three colour – Quite Black, Really Blue & Very Silver (Yes it’s not a hoax).
The end of Nexus line also means the end of affordable stock Google devices, the 32GB Pixel costs US$649 and goes up to US$869 for the XL with 128GB.

With the HTC struggle to bring in HTC 10 into local market for months, we are highly doubtful that Pixel will be available in local market in near future.

The new HP Chromebook 13 is quite exciting. It may not come to Singapore soon, so you would have to explore other means of purchasing it from the US. Features include a similar to Apple Macbook build compatibility. Dimensions are similar too at 0.5 inches thin, and 2.8 lbs or 1.27 kg. It also comes with a Core M level processor, 13.3″ FHD IPS, (and a 3200 x 1800 option!), 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage.

For anyone who uses a browser and web apps for the majority of their work, the base US$499 configuration should be plenty. The main draw would be the good looks. It has very similar dimensions to the 13-inch MacBook Air. Port connectivity is also decent, with two USB-C, one full-size USB, and an audio jack. There’s also a MicroSD slot. HP and Google are claiming the laptop gets 11 hours of juice per charge.

As part of the third year running Google for Entrepreneurs Week, Google in-conjunction with NUS Enterprise organised a Google for Entrepreneur Day event on 17 October. This year’s event was held at Blk71, a vibrant ecosystem of Singapore-based startups, and saw Adam Koch and Tony Chan, developer advocates sharing the latest on Android, covering the latest Android updates, Material Design, Cloud Platform and Android Wear.

On the new Nexus devices, we all know by now that the Nexus 6 has received flak for the high pricing and the larger than most dimensions. Adam did share a little on Google’s rationale behind the Nexus device, which was to serve as a reference for the ecosystem as they develop their Android system release. The Nexus 6 is the first Nexus device that encroached to the phablet territory which undoubtedly has grown popular over the years. Android One is the Google’s latest budget phone but may not be coming to Singapore anytime soon. It is currently selling in India, and the next target markets would be nearby southeast Asia countries soon, such as Indonesia and Philippines. As part of Google’s direct phone lineup, you would be able to get fast software updates to the latest android version.

I had been quite keen on the Chromebooks & Chromeboxes for the last few months, but when it came down to the decision point, I actually bought a Dell Windows-based laptop for an old laptop replacement. No, the advantages of the Chromebook didn’t change. I still believe that you can do everything on the internet. So what caused me to ditch the Chromebooks?

According to Chinese website MTK, Google has plans to introduce a lower-cost Nexus smartphone that could cost US$100. This would be a similar processor used in Xiaomi and has Hugo Barra done enough for Google to deem XiaoMi as a potential competitor?

To achieve this, Google is said to utilize MediaTek processors which are generally cheaper than its Qualcomm Snapdragon and NVIDIA Tegra counterparts.

If this is true, this should effectively push down the cost of budget phones like the Moto G and also see increased offerings from LG, Samsung, Sony and the likes who would likely adopt the low cost processor for their budget phones too.

The second key point would also be finally increased support for MediaTek processors which generally had stagnated at 4.2 support due to lack of driver and kernel. It would indirectly benefit Xiaomi users who could possibly upgrade their OS to 4.4 KitKat which would benefit low tier phones more thanks to less resource consumption. One possibility would be for Google to use the MediaTek latest, MT6595, a 4G LTE octa-core smartphone chipset, the first 4G MediaTek chip. And if they can price it at US$100, it would be a significant attack against the other budget phone manufacturers.

If it materialises, the phone would also not be in Singapore any time soon, and based on our past experiences in buying Nexus, the easiest way is through a concierge service. Do note LTE bands would be limited and we may have to go for UK or Japan sets instead. Although Starhub users probably wouldn’t need the 4G support.

Starhub has restarted the Chromebook Acer C720 offer again for subscribers to the Cable/Fibre 100mbps plan at $39.90 in April 2014. The Acer C720 Chromebook is a 11.6 lightweight laptop suitable for on-the-go computing. The recommended retail price for the Acer C720 in Singapore is at $469.

Starhub Chromebook C720 Deal – April 2014

StarHub subscribers who sign up for the 100Mbps cable / fibre home broadband plan for two years at $39.90 a month will be able to get the C720 for free. The previous offer in December 2013 allowed users who sign up for the more affordable 25Mbps cable home broadband plan for two years at $24.90 a month were able to get the C720 with a $5 monthly top-up. Currently, whether this is available or not is still unknown. I might be tempted to go for the cheaper option personally as fibre configuration for my house would be just too messy.

The C720 is a pretty good laptop. Online reviews have indicated that this is one of the better performing Chromebooks, thanks to the Intel Haswell processor + the SSD installed. Thank to the SSD, along with the lightweight Chrome OS lets the C720 boot in an estimated 8 seconds. So you get a similar Macbook air wannabe, with good battery performance, overall decent computing, at a fraction of the price, or for free thanks to Starhub. Despite the small space of 16GB, it is still more than sufficient for typical ChromeOS use. If you need more storage, you could pop in a SD card as well. Lastly, Google has also thrown in additional 100GB of cloud storage with Google Drive. This would be valid for two years. Acer had discontinued the 4GB ram model, but 2GB ram should still suffice for general web surfing. For more power users, thansk to the Intel chipset, the Acer C720 is also capable of booting up Linux, or an Ubuntu derivative, in the form of Chrubuntu. Here are the instructions on how to install Linux on the Acer C720.

If you do not want the Chromebook, you can probably sell it for $250 on Hardwarezone.

This brings down the effective price of the $39.90 contract to approximately $29.48, which is a great price to pay for a 100Mbps broadband contract.

The price delta from the Singapore Acer C720 RRP is due to the fact that the model is only sold for US$199 in US. Once again, there is significant mark up for laptops in Singapore. It’s also actually pretty easy to buy the Chromebook from USA as well, as it can be shipped directly from US through Amazon. This however only applies to the Acer Chromebook C720 32gb SSD model, which retails at approx US$229. It’s one of the few laptops with Free Amazon Global Shipping to Singapore. While you are paying US$30 more for the 32gb model, it is still a great deal as more space never hurts.

Seems like Amazon has also allowed free shipping to Singapore (fssg) for the Acer Chromebook C720 16gb model, which retails at $199. I think I might still pay $30 more for the additional storage since I intend to dual boot with Linux anyway, but both models are a great bargain!

Google is having little luck keeping its next flagship smartphone a secret. Could be on purpose too. The so-called Nexus 5 has been heavily leaked, and even directly on Google Play Store as well. Here’s the confirmation on what we now know, and see, and also a little snippet on what to expect come launch day.(more…)